Celeste Smucker Nellysford, VA, United States

Posted: 2017-10-03

Chapter 9 Persistence

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries. ― James A. Michener

Wouldn't it be great if we could start from scratch with a lot of desire and a big why and be wealthy, top producers in our business before the year is out? As unlikely as this sounds, how many people join network marketing companies with no skills and no experience and with the world's most negative attitude, and expect to be a top producer, their mortgage paid off and living in a tropical paradise on a substantial residual income within a few months, certainly in less than a year?

This kind of magical thinking is perhaps why Hill includes a chapter on persistence teaching us that when we have important goals, we need to focus not just initially when we define our WHY but consistently over time as we develop ourselves (our personal power), the technical skills we need to succeed in our business and the additional resources required for success such as a mastermind we can rely on.

Converting an idea into physical reality requires a great deal of focused energy that builds on itself through persistence--the ability to keep at it, keep learning and keep growing--even when the whole process takes longer than we think it should.

For example, if our goal is to develop some high powered clients that download the ebook, we must first start by finding people who want help with network marketing, which means developing social media skills and creating a plan to put the skills to work. Developing "know, like and trust" with complete strangers requires communication and listening skills, and so on.

But the more we do, the more persistent we are, the more success we experience, the better we feel and so on. We are building energy through persistence. This is the energy of manifestation that turns our WHY into reliable, residual income that Hill calls: "The sustained effort necessary to induce faith."

As energy builds so does our faith in the process and in ourselves making us more and more the kind of person that others seek out and want to do business with. We become a genuine coach and mentor with the privilege of helping others succeed.

Without persistence none of this is possible. People who lack persistence quit when they realize they have to work hard to succeed or quit at the first sign of discomfort such as when someone they were sure would make them a superstar quits and joins another company, a regular customer loses their job and cancels their auto-ship, or someone in their family has health challenges and needs lots of attention.

As Michael often says...any excuse will do. Without persistence the excuses take over and success remains a dream.